joseph albert deport



(No Model.)

J. A. DEPORT.

SUPPORT FOR ROTARY TURRBTS, &o.

No. 565,608. Patented Aug. 11, 1896.

J V/TNA'SSES:

UNITED STATES JOSEPH ALBERT DEPORT, OF PARIS,

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCE.

SUPPORT FOR ROTARY TURRETS, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,608, dated August11, 1896.

Application filed January 10, 1896. Serial No. 5%,983. (N0 model.)Patented in France May 15, 1895,1T0. 247,451, and in Belgium August 26,1895,110. 117,156.

2" 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosErH ALBERT DE- PORT, a citizen of the Republic ofFrance, residing in Paris, France, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Supports for Rotary Turrets and other Devices, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention has been patented in France May15, 1895, No. 24:7,451,and in Belgium August 26, 1895, No. 117,156.

This invention relates to means for supporting heavy rotary devices, andis especially adapted for use with turning armored turrets and aims toprovide improved means for such uses.

According to the preferred form of the present invention as adapted foran armored turret, a base or saddle is provided formed with an annularhydraulic cylinder, in which plays a piston of the same form and havinga packed or leak-tight joint. The saddle supports on its top the turret,for which it has tracks opposed to like tracks carried by the turret,and between these tracks there may be a series of conical or otherantifriction rollers on which the turning of the turret may be effected.These are the ordinary tracks for carrying the turret from the saddle.In addition to these I provide auxiliary tracks or provisions by whichthe turrent can be partly or entirely carried or guided on the pistonworking in said cylinder, and I provide for the movement of this pistoninto or out of an active position by the injection of water underpressure or of other suitable medium under pressure into the cylinder.The piston preferably has tracks opposite to like tracks carried by theturret, and between these tracks are disposed antifrietion-balls or thelike, by which the turning of the turret on the piston is permitted. Ifdesired, the piston may be the usual track for the turret, and raisingor lowering the piston may suflice for the adjustment of the turret orfor bringing it to rest on the base or saddle. In most cases it is bestto use the hydraulic piston only temporarily, and in case of need, tofacilitate movement of the turret.

I will describe certain adaptations of my invention as applied to arotary armored turret, with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure l is a fragmentary vertical axial section of an armoredturret, its well, supporting-column, and rotary bearing, showing thegun-carriage and gun in fragmentary elevation. Fig. 2 is a fragmentarysection of the rotary bearing, showing a modification; and Fig. 3 is asimilar view showing another modification.

Referring to Fig. .1, let a indicate an armored turret; Z), a guntherein; 0, the carriage for the latter; (I, the turret-well; c, thesupporting-column for the turret; f, the neck of the turret; g, therotary bearings between the turret and column, and h the throat of theturret, projecting into the hollow interior of the column. These partsmay be of any suitable or desired construction, the well and columnbeing stationary and the turret a partially or completely rotativemember carried on the column and over the well. The bear ing g may beany suitable bearing by which the turret can be rotated on the column.

Referring to Fig. 1, I will now describe in detail the constructiontherein shown as the preferred embodiment of my improvement. In thisconstruction an annular base or saddle A is fixed on the column 6, andis formed with an annular cylinder B, extending from its top facedownwardly and near its inner side, outwardly of which it has ataper-track '1 on which is located a series of tapering or conicalrollers G, which on their upper side carry the bottom plate F of theturret, which plate has a tapering or conical annular track j over andresting on the rollers G. The annular piston D carries an annular head Gabove the saddle A, the piston being preferably divided into two partswithin the cylinder, the lower one being a head D, having anupwardly-projecting narrow flange D, and the upper part being a shank7c, having a groove receiving this flange, and into which the flange ispermitted to move until arrested by the compression of two cords orrings of suitable packing material E and E, which are located betweenthe shank and the head of the piston and make a leak-tight joint withthe adjacent walls of the cylinder.

The upper head 0 of the piston and the opposite face of the plate F areprovided with suitable tracksfor the rotation of the plate on this head,and preferably these are grooved tracks Z, and a series of bearing-ballsO are carried between them to facilitate the turning of the plate on thehead.

Ordinarily the piston will be depressed by the Withdrawal of fluid fromthe cylinder until the head 0 of the piston is so low that the balls 0are out of contact with and do not sustain the turret from its plate F.As the piston is thus lowered the track 7' will be brought onto therollers G, and there will exist a slight play or freedom between theupper track Z and the ball 0. The turret will then be rotativelysupported by the rollers G from the track 2' of the saddle, and thepiston will be inactive. If one should then inject fluid under pressureinto the cylinder, the piston will be lifted until the balls 0 engagethe tracks Z and raise the plate F either partially or entirely abovethe rollers G. The turret will then rest on the circle of balls of thepiston. This may be desirable when one wishes to obtain a more facilerotation of the rollers.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the neck h of the turret is guidedby the rollers H from the fixed and substantially vertical track 1" ofthe saddle A, which rollers act against the substantially vertical trackj on the neck, the rollers being slightly conical or tapering towardtheir upper ends. In this construction the saddle A and top plate F havereciprocal tracks or faces K on their adjacent portions on whichordinarily the plate is supported from the saddle non-rotatively, andthe cylinder 13 and piston O are disposed near the outer side of thesaddle, their tracks land bearing-balls 0 being likewisedisposed and ofsimilar construction to those described with reference to Fig. 1. Thepiston is divided and packed in this construction asin that beforedescribed.

In ordinary times the piston C will be depressed until its bearing-ballsare below the plate F, and the latter will rest non-rotatively on thefaces K; but when it is desired to maneuver the turret the piston willbe elevated by injecting fluid into the cylinder until the bearing-ballslift the plate sufficiently to carry it with the faces K out of contact,whereupon the turret can roll on the balls 0.

The construction shown in Fig. 3 differs from the preceding only in thatthe track Z on the plate F and the track Z on the piston are tapered orconed and a series of conical rollers M are interposed between them,which rollers carry the plate when the piston is elevated and pass belowit, permitting it to rest on the faces K when the turret is to beinactive.

It will be seen that my invention provides an improved movable bearingfor turning turrets and other devices which may be used either as anauxiliary or as a main rotative bearing, and improved means foroperating such bearings, and it will be understood that the invention isnot limited to the particular details of construction nor to theparticular adaptation or use described and shown, since it may beavailed of according to such modifications or for such purposes ascircumstances or the judgment of those skilled in the art may dictatewithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is, in supports for rotary turrets and other devices, thefollowing-defined novel features and combinations, substantially ashereinbefore set forth, namely:

1. In bearings, supports and the like, upper and lower members the onerotative relatively to the other, in combination with a cylinder forcontaining fluid under pressure carried by one of said parts, and apiston in said cylinder movable toward the other of said parts, andbearing-tracks on said piston and the part toward which it movesengaging and serving as a bearing for the rotative part when said pistonis moved outwardly from said cylinder.

2. In supports and the like, a lower member having a fixed and a movablebearingtrack, in combination with a rotative mem-.

ber carried thereon and having corresponding tracks, said movable trackwhen in one position free from said rotative member and when in anotherposition engaging the latter.

3. In supports and the like, a lower member having an annular cylinder,an annular piston working in said cylinder, and an upper memberrotatively carried by and rotating relatively to and on said piston.

4:. In supports and other devices, an annular pressure-cylinder, incombination with an annular piston therein having two parts, the onehaving annular side walls fitting the walls of said cylinder, and theother having annular side walls fitting the walls of said cylinder belowthe first, and a soft packing material filling the confined annular.space between the inner walls of said cylinder .and the upper and lowerparts of said piston, and transmitting the motion of one to the otherwithin the walls of said cylinder, for making a leak-tight joint betweenthe piston andcylinder.

5. In rotary turrets and other devices, a lower member having an annulartrack, and

' an upper member having a corresponding an-v nular track and rotativelycarried from said lower member, in combination with a second rotativebearing between said parts consisting of a movable track on the one, acorresponding track on the other, and antifriction devices between saidtracks.

6. For turrets and other devices, a lower member consisting of a movablehydraulic piston having an annular track, and an upper member having acorresponding track in com 8. For turrets and the like, a lower memberhaving an annular hydraulic cylinder, in combination with a pistonoperating in said cylinder and having a bearing-track, and an uppermember above said piston carried rotatively thereon and having abearing-track opposite that of the latter.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH ALBERT DEPORT.

\Vitnesses:

CLYDE SHROPSHIRE, J ULES ARMENGAUD, J eune.

